dognovel Chapter 84 Is there really such a good thing?
Chapter 84 Is there really such a good thing?
"Uncle Guodong, Aunt Chunmei, it's me, Xiangyang!"
Li Xiangyang walked to the gate of Chen Guodong's courtyard, knocked twice, and then started shouting.
As he spent more time with Chen Guodong and his wife, he became less reserved.
"It's Xiangyang, it's Xiangyang! Quick, Guodong, go open the door for him!" Zhou Chunmei's eyes lit up instantly when she heard that Li Xiangyang had arrived.
She wanted to see if Li Xiangyang, whom she considered closer than her own brother, would send them wolf meat again this time.
"You," Chen Guodong pointed a finger at Zhou Chunmei's cheek and ordered, "Hurry up the brick tea."
"You don't need to tell me that." Zhou Chunmei smiled and got up to brew brick tea.
A moment later, Li Xiangyang was summoned in by Chen Guodong. As expected, he carried a gun and an enormous wolf leg.
The reddish-brown muscle lines are very well-developed, the texture is firm, and the muscle fiber texture is extremely obvious, which is obviously good meat.
"Oh dear, Xiangyang, what are you doing? You're here, aren't you?" Zhou Chunmei said, feigning complaint, as Li Xiangyang put the wolf leg on the kang (a heated brick bed) as soon as he entered the room.
Cheng Guodong glanced at Zhou Chunmei sideways without saying a word. Every time he told Li Xiangyang he didn't want it, he would eventually accept it. This time, he was too lazy to say those polite words.
"Xiangyang, come on, have a cup of tea first."
"Thank you, Uncle Guodong." Li Xiangyang took the cup, took a sip, and said with a smile:
"Aunt Chunmei, thanks to Uncle Guodong for lending me his gun last night, I was able to drive away the wolves and even shoot a few of them."
As he spoke, he patted the wolf leg on the table again:
"To be honest, the wolf meat is a bit gamey and the texture is rather tough. I should have caught a few pheasants instead."
However, I previously heard an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor say that although wolf meat doesn't taste good, it's extremely nourishing.
It has the effects of nourishing the five internal organs, strengthening the stomach and intestines, replenishing essence, and warding off wind and cold. It can be used to improve symptoms such as weakness, cold accumulation, and abdominal pain.
Remembering that Aunt Chunmei hadn't been feeling well recently, I took the liberty of cutting off a wolf's leg and bringing it over. Auntie, please don't mind!
"Oh, Xiangyang, what are you saying? Only you still care about your aunt. Your aunt is overjoyed, how could she possibly complain?"
Dislike? You're kidding!
These days, we're just grateful to have meat to eat; who would complain about whether it's gamey or tough?
Moreover, wolf meat is such a nutritious food, making it even more precious.
Inside the stove next to the kang (heated brick bed), the coal was burning red-hot, and the brick tea in the earthenware pot was bubbling and emitting white smoke.
Chen Guodong quietly smoked a cigarette, watching Li Xiangyang and Zhou Chunmei chatter back and forth.
Not only Zhou Chunmei, but Chen Guodong himself also grew to like Li Xiangyang more and more the more he looked at him.
This young man has a perfect grasp of human relationships and social dynamics, and his insight and courage far surpass those of his peers. He is sure to have a bright future.
"By the way, Xiangyang! Our team just passed a resolution that concerns your ranch," Chen Guodong suddenly said.
"Our family... ranch?"
"Yes, it's about your family's ranch. Your father recently injured his back and has spent a lot of money on medical treatment."
"The team only found out this morning when they went to your house to check on the situation of the wolf pack ambush last night."
"Well...that's true. My mother said it emptied the family's savings."
"Yes, we understand that too. After leaving your house, our brigade held a meeting and decided to waive your family's ranch contract fee for next year."
Chen Guodong sipped his brick tea and spoke casually, but Li Xiangyang, standing beside him, was anything but calm.
"Free...free?"
In his previous life, the brigade only wanted to postpone the payment of the ranch contract fee to the Li family for a year, but it was ultimately rejected by his second uncle, Li Zhenshan.
Unexpectedly, in this life... it passed, or rather, it was exempted from the requirement!
The butterfly effect caught him somewhat off guard.
That was 50 yuan in 1980.
"Uncle Guodong..."
Li Xiangyang knew that this matter must have been accomplished through Chen Guodong's efforts within the brigade, and with a very firm and decisive attitude; otherwise, his second uncle would never have agreed.
She wanted to say something, but Chen Guodong stopped her.
"Xiangyang, your father actively responded to the brigade's call before the New Year and leased 500 mu of pasture to raise sheep. Our brigade should support him."
"You've been doing very well lately, and I hope you can keep it up and not limit your focus to your Li family, but gradually broaden your vision to our entire brigade."
After Chen Guodong finished speaking, he patted Li Xiangyang on the shoulder meaningfully.
As the brigade secretary, he hopes that one day Li Xiangyang will not only lead his own family to prosperity, but also lead all the herders in their village to get rich.
Although Chen Guodong didn't explain things very clearly, Li Xiangyang understood. However, his current goal was simply to earn a little money and take care of his family.
As for what will happen next? Will the Li family be able to influence the whole village? Nobody knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first, and he hasn't thought that far ahead.
By the time Li Xiangyang returned the gun and went back to the Li family home, it was already dark, and everyone in the middle and east rooms had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep.
However, the warm yellow light of a kerosene lamp still shone through the window of the west room.
Li Xiangyang knew that his wife, Liu Xiulan, was waiting for him. Perhaps this was happiness: among all the lights in the world, there was one that was left on for him.
Li Xiangyang didn't go in directly. Instead, he first shoveled a large shovelful of black coal from the coal shed before going in.
During the day, this heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) is used for cooking and boiling water, and burning wood is fine, but at night, it has to be burned with coal.
Otherwise, the wood will burn quickly and go out in two or three hours, leaving the kang (heated brick bed) cold in the latter half of the night, waking people up from the cold.
In their pastoral areas, winters are cold and nights are long, so no one wants to get up in the middle of the night to add firewood.
Burning coal is different.
Coal is not only durable and slow-burning, keeping the stove burning all night, but it also maintains a constant temperature. Just fill the stove with coal before going to bed, seal the opening, and you can sleep soundly until dawn – the most worry-free way to sleep.
Li Xiangyang pushed open the door, swept the snowflakes off his dog-skin hat and sheepskin coat, took them off and hung them on the wooden rack by the wall, before walking to the fire pit and adding coal to the firebox.
Although he tried to be as quiet as possible, he still woke Liu Xiulan up.
"Xiangyang, you're back." Liu Xiulan rubbed her eyes, then sat up, still clutching the yellow butter paper package that Wang Guiying had given them at noon.
"Xiangyang, do you know how much money our family has right now?" She suddenly raised the butter paper package in her hand excitedly and said:
"That's a whopping 242.5 yuan! You know what? This is the first time in my life I've ever held so much money in my hand."
"So you're planning to sleep with money in your arms tonight?" Li Xiangyang had already added coal and was getting ready to go to bed.
242.5 yuan is a lot, but it's nothing to him.
Last night was a terrifying night, and now he just wants to relax. His daughter sleeps on one side, and his wife sleeps on the other.
"I... I was just afraid of losing it."
"You should be worried about losing your husband. This 200-plus yuan is just the cost of me going out to sell fish a few more times."
"Oh, oh," Liu Xiulan thought about it and agreed, "But Xiangyang, if you're going to talk about money, just talk about money. Why did you unbuckle my belt?"